The Facade of Darkness
by ArkytiorOswinSong
Summary: AU – Darren Shan, a mysterious half-vampire with the ability to talk to the dead and manipulate shadows, is the Cirque du Freak's newest act. Larten Crepsley could not help but be intrigued by the young man. D/L.


The Façade of Darkness

By ArkytiorOswinSong

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Darren Shan or its characters

**Plot: **AU – Darren Shan, a mysterious half-vampire with the ability to talk to the dead and manipulate shadows, is the Cirque du Freak's newest act. Larten Crepsley could not help but be intrigued by the young man. D/L.

**A/N: **Hiya! I'm ArkytiorOswinSong. Lately I've been reading the Darren Shan saga and this has been gnawing at me! It would not sit still! So I'm expressing myself in this new fanfiction. I hope you enjoy it. But a few things to know … Darren was not blooded by Mr Crepsley but by someone else (who you'll find out soon). Have a fun time reading!

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_Prologue_

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**The world was far **too slow for the boy's liking. He had returned back to rooftop that overlooked the city. Even if it was past midnight, the hubbub of the city could be heard and you see clearly see many lights opened to create a swamp of black and yellow. Every single detail of the scene could be examined in the time the world had entered slow-motion but he focused on two things.

One was the woman's head that was severed from its body, flying in the sky and then dropping on the hard stone floor. Her separated body dropped to its knees and fell forwards met the ground, dropping the samurai sword beside her.

The other was another woman. She had long and straight blonde hair reaching her waist and an impressive bust and waist line, only wearing skimpy club clothing to cover herself which was spattered in blood. She wielded a round red shield and short sword in her hands. Her skin was plum purple and her eyes glowed bright blood red. A vampaneze. The wo – no, _murderer_ grinned manically and cackled at her triumphant victory.

"A-_HA_!" the murderer roared to the sky. "At long, _long_ last I _win_ and _you LOSE!_ Five hundred years of these games and I win! Now do you see?! I suppose you don't!" she chuckled madly, doubling over. "You're dead!"

The boy took one step forwards, making a resonating _clack_. The murderer looked to the boy and shot a wide Cheshire cat grin to him. She watched him as he took small numb steps towards the head that was on the edge of the roof. The boy took in shallow steps and stopped breathing all together when he knelt beside it. It was _her_. _She couldn't be –_

"She's _deeeaaaddd_ …" the murderer confirmed in a playful sing-sing voice. "Took her head off that I did."

Tears burned the boy's eyes. He got up and spun around angrily to face the murderer, hands clenched so tight that blood was drawn. She even had the audacity to mock him for it.

"Ohhh," she crooned. "Someone's angry. Very, _very_ angry! Absolutely marvelous!"

"YOU KILLED HER!" The boy growled at her. Out of his raging emotions, he felt a connection to the darkness around him. Not the insane murderous aura around the woman but to the shadows all around them. Clouds of pitch black air rotated in a circle around the boy's feet, growing stronger with each second. "YOU – KILLED – GANYMEDE!"

"Nice observation," she complimented him though it didn't feel like one. She brought her shield arm behind her hair and stroked it. "Whatcha gonna do about it little boy?"

The boy reacted. Out of the shadows that swirled around him, he gathered it into a single ball of black energy in the palm of his hand and lobbed it at the woman as strongly and as quickly as he could. Ever since … ever since he could remember he had a thing with shadows and the shadows had a thing for him. It was his friend and companion along with Ganymede. Now it was his comrade, his power for battle.

The murderer held her shield in front of her and was forced backwards several meters, barely touching the railing behind her. Her shield had been completely destroyed and her forearm was charred in black soot. The murderer inspected her arm sharply.

"Nice job," she praised him. "Quite good for a beginner." She tilted her head innocently at him and gave him a tender, loving smile. Or at least it looked like it. "Now let me return the favor as much as twice as that!"

The murderer tossed her sword away and came at him in a blur. It was vampire speed that allowed her to run at what seemed like the speed of light. The boy threw himself to the side, managing to dodge the murderer but not completely as she managed to rake three claws across his shoulder. It burned, searing the boy's flesh. The boy gathered the shadows and threw it at the woman's back. She was thrown off-balance for a second, regaining it quickly and performing a back-flip and lunged at the boy.

Her face was contorted in ugly rage. She was truly angry and for good reason. Honor. It was disgraceful for a vampire to be killed by getting stabbed in the back. And the boy just attempted to kill her right _there_.

The boy formed a feeble black barrier between them. The murderer broke through the barrier and wrapped a hand around his neck, lifting him off the ground. The boy wildly called out to the shadows to aide him and got nothing in response. He was panicking inside, fear running through his veins. The person he loved most, his mother and mentor, was killed before his very eyes and the person who killed her had the power to kill him right there!

Her claws went to his left eye and pulled it right out of its socket. The boy screamed at the quick agony. The boy threw a wave of darkness at the female and retreated beside the fallen body of Ganymede, clutching where his right eye used to be.

"Feel that pain and humiliation, boy?" The murderer quizzed him. "All that rage building inside you and the need to take revenge? That's what I felt for so long! We're not so different, you and I. We're kindred spirits. We didn't choose the shadows but the shadows chose us!"

"You're LYING!" The boy roared. "I am nothing –NOTHING –like you!"

She laughed wickedly. "I'll take my leave now," she announced. "I am quite exhausted. Grow strong, my little spider. Grow strong and powerful and learn to control the darkness. I will back for you one of these days, that I _promise_."

The boy opened his mouth to shout back but was cut off. She advanced, placing a light peck on his cheek –much to his disgust –, and disappeared into thin air, leaving the boy all alone on the roof.

The strength had been zapped out of the boy and he fell to his knees. With whatever energy he could muster, he used it to crawl to Ganymede's head. Her expression was so at peace and serene. He gingerly placed the severed body part on lap and wrapped his arms as a child would a toy and howled into the night, crying for his lost mother.

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_Chapter One_

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_Seven years later …_

"**Mommy! Look! That boy** is playing with the shadows!" A little boy gasped in awe, pushing through the crowd that had gathered, desperately trying to get a closer view of what was happening. Above him were creatures made of black sand and mist dancing above him.

"Caleb! Get back here!" his mother called behind him, trying to catch to her energetic young son. She caught him at the very front of the audience, holding him by the shoulders to keep him in place so he wouldn't run off again. "What have I told you about running off? Caleb? Caleb!"

"Shh, Mom," her son told her as the sound of the violin echoed in the air around them, clear and melodious. "I'm trying to listen."

A group of people ringed around a single busker playing on a busy shopping street late at night. They had all followed the sound of the violin being played through the night energetically. Tucked with the stringed instrument under his chin, a young boy dressed in black moved his body in time to the music he produced. He swayed his hips and his legs danced smoothly around to provide extra amusement. Around him black sand and ash horses galloped in a circle above him.

He retook his bow and started a new melody that sounded strangely a lot like the Circle of Life from the Lion King. (It was.) The horses reformed to lions that landed on all fours on the floor and prowled around the boy who began spinning in circles.

The boy, Caleb, dared to touch one of the cats, holding out his hand to stroke the fur. As soon as he touched him, an ice cold sensation ran through him and Caleb pulled his hand back. The lion he stroked stopped in front of Caleb and his mother, snarling at the two. The two took a fearful step back from the cat. The violin player was by the lion in seconds, one knee to the ground, and took a gentler and softer tone to his music. The lion shifted to become a small cub and bowed before Caleb.

Caleb broke free of his mother's grasp to stroke the cub. When he rubbed the fur of the cub, there was no icy sensation, it was just cold. The cub leaned into his touch and the boy giggled in delight.

Caleb looked in time for the young violin player to send him a smile. The violin player ended his song quickly afterwards and Caleb moaned when the little lion cub he had been petting dispersed into dust. All the creatures the violin player created returned from whence they came: the shadows. Some members of the audience groaned from how the show stopped.

"Alright, folks!" the violin player boomed, putting his violin in its case and taking out a black cap from the ground and holding it out for his awe-struck audience. A few placed a quid or a few shillings in the cap. "I need enough for breakfast tomorrow and the ticket! That's right! Oh thank you, milady. What about you, good sir –oh, walk off, very nice of you."

"Mom," Caleb said, tugging his mother's sleeves. "Do we have any money for the shadow boy?"

His mother took out her wallet. There was no money inside. She spent it all paying the rent and her son's school fees. Money for Caleb's mother was something she didn't have lot of but direly needed to survive. "Sorry, honey," she apologized.

"Oh that's quite alright, ma'am."

The woman jumped out of surprise, dropping her wallet on the ground. The boy playing the violin was sitting beside her, counting the money he earned. Caleb the young excited toddler squealed and was on the violin player in an instant, clinging to his arm.

"You were so cool!" Caleb rushed out. "How did you do it? Could you do other things with the dark thingies? How old are you? Aren't you past your bedtime?"

"Caleb!" His mother berated him. She pried her son off the violin player and gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry for my son's behavior. He gets excited very easily. Sadly it leads to him trouble most of the time."

The violin player laughed. He was no older than thirteen or fourteen and was slimly built like a cat. "Oh, that's alright. I'm used to it. Thirty pounds score!" He was very pleased with the money he had earned.

"Hey, can I play your violin?" Caleb asked curiously, fluttering his eyes at the violin player and pouting, attempting to make a puppy face. "Puh-leeeasse?"

The boy smirked. "Just let me get it, okay?"

The next fifteen minutes were spent showing Caleb the violin. The strange violin boy was happy to answer questions about the instrument. The violin boy showed what type of different strings there were on the instrument –G, D, A and E strings –, the different parts of the violin, how he would tune it, what the bowstring was made out of –"Horse hair? Really?" "That's for normal violins. Mine is out of enchanted princess hair." "No way!" –and the type of pieces the violin boy would play. Caleb plucked the strings and the violin boy showed Caleb how to hold the violin though it was a bit big and heavy for someone his age.

"Violins are cool!" Caleb exclaimed in wonder.

"They sure are!" the violin boy agreed with Caleb. "Though they are very hard to play. At first, it would be easy, playing just open strings but then you have to learn where to correctly place your fingers, how long to play a note, how to sight-read and know a lot of musical terms. The violin is also something that requires a _lot_ of dedication and hard work. It took me years to get to the point to where I am now."

Caleb's mouth dropped open. "I didn't know instruments were hard to play."

"Yeah, I know. But I think the results are quite worth it. I mean, you thought my playing was good?"

"It was awesome!" Caleb was jumping up and down, imitating the sounds of the violin. His mother beside him sighed heavily. "Hey Mom, do you think I can play the violin?"

"I don't know honey. It seems very expensive." She didn't want to have the burden of violin weighing on her and her bills even more. They were struggling to go by as it was. "I don't think you can."

Caleb's beaming face fell in disappointment. His body posture visibly slunk over. "Awww …"

"Hey, don't worry!" The violin boy patted Caleb on the back in reassurance. He burrowed a pen from Caleb's mother and a scrap piece of paper, scribbling something on it. "I know a dude that works with musical instruments and I did a few favors for him. Now he gives me seventy-five per cent off of everything. I'm giving that to you guys so you better not waste it, okay?"

Caleb lit up and grinned. He wasn't sure what seventy-five per cent meant but he was happy if it meant he could learn the violin. "Really?!"

"Oh no," Caleb's mother fretted, holding her hands up in protest. "You don't have to do anything like that."

The violin boy gave the scrap piece of paper to Caleb who graciously accepted it. The boy slung his violin case over his back and walked off into the night, leaving the mother and son behind him. It had been a while since he had been around normal people –humans –and enjoyed it. Of course every time he played for them in was enjoyable but he craved for real social face-to-face interaction.

"Huh?" Caleb's mother blinked at the last part written on the scrap piece of paper. _You can have the money too_. Right where the violin playing boy who created beasts of shadows had been sitting was his night's crop of thirty pounds from his busking. When she picked up the money and was about to call the violin boy back, he was no longer there and long gone.

Would you look at that? Not all teenagers were rude and self-centred after all.

**.**

Darren Shan whistled contently, walking down the empty street by himself and smiling. He adjusted his black cap on his head and zipped up his leather aviator's jacket as high as he could. He kept thinking back to the little human boy –Caleb, he thought his name was –and his mother. He was so young and innocent, not fully knowing what the world was truly like. Darren wondered if he was like that when he was a child.

"You can come out now. You don't have to know following me, you know." Darren said out loud to his surroundings. He twirled on his toes and he checked who had been following him. He had felt a strange presence during his performance and it had been trailing after him afterwards. If push came to shove, Darren could just simply use his shadows to help him or use his sword or claws to help him.

An impossibly tall man in a ringleader's outfit appeared. He was taller than any human and non-human he had ever seen, about the height of a streetlamp, with his hands clasped behind his back. His little beady eyes watched Darren and he also had a burly moustache.

"Hello there," the giant greeted Darren in a friendly manner, bowing slightly. "I hope I didn't alarm you, young man."

"No, you didn't," Darren replied, bowing majestically, with a crooked grin, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He walked towards the tall man, sizing him up. This man was different from the others. Not a vampire … not human … just different. "Can I help you, sir?"

The beady-eyed man grinned politely. "I'm Mr Tall and I'm the ringleader of the Cirque du Freak. I have proposition for you."

_And you wouldn't be the first one_. Because of Darren's unique skills, he of course attracted attention from a few entertainment businessmen. Darren had declined them all. They were all greedy for money, eager to please the masses with the next big thing. He often wouldn't do gigs if there wasn't a need for money.

He played along. "Cirque du Freak? The Circus of Freaks? That sounds awfully interesting."

"It is the home of the most remarkable human beings in existence," Mr Tall told Darren who listened intently. "All over the world for five hundred years, we've played for audiences of all kinds for their entertainment. You have way with the dark shadows and that piques my curiosity, young minstrel."

Darren half-smiled as he formed the shape of a butterfly from the shadows flying over his fingers. He didn't know why he had these powers. According to his old teacher –a pang of hurt went through his chest –no vampires, or half-vampires, in existence had the powers Darren had. There was no telling how they would react if they knew someone like Darren had these powers. Of course, these powers weren't always a blessing. There would be the occasional dim-witted human that would insult Darren because of his powers or little children mistaking him for the Boogieman or a bad guy.

The butterfly fluttered around Darren. "Yeah, I do. Are there others like me at this Cirque of yours? I don't want to become some poster child that appears on the telly or anything like that."

"Oh, no, no … we have an interesting bunch of performers coming and going from the Cirque. A snake boy, a man who can regrow limbs, a vampire with a performing spider –"

"Did you just say spider? Oh sorry, I didn't to interrupt," Against the better of Darren, he was becoming like the child he meet at his gig earlier. "What kind?"

Taking advantage of his sudden interest, Mr Tall continued, "An exquisite one. And a beautiful and intelligent one at that too with toxins that can paralyse and poison that can kill."

Darren had always been fascinated by the arachnids. He would spend hours at the local library of whatever town he was drifting by reading up on the subject of spiders. Even in the pocket of his violin, he had a small book about spiders that was given to him as a gift and there was a spider keychain hanging off the zipper. To hear about a spider like the one Mr Tall was talking about was like hearing an angel had come down to earth.

"Wait," said Darren cautiously, crossing his arms. "How do I know you're not glorifying the spider?"

"I assure you, whatever comes out of my mouth is the undeniable truth," Mr Tall promised Darren. "Would you like to consider working at Cirque du Freak?"

Darren considered this seriously. If he were to take up Mr Tall's offer he would be cared for and have a temporary home but if he did he would have obligations and responsibilities –more like chores. Darren wasn't afraid of these things; he just found them a bother. _You laze_, his teacher once told him. However if he didn't then he would be alone all over again, drifting on his own. That and he would not see the spider.

There was the off chance that Darren would be able to find information about _her_ to think about as well.

"For a month," Darren compromised his shadow butterfly still hovering around him. It landed back on his fingers and dissolved. "I need to see if this Cirque is really full of freaks and if the spider is all you crack it up to be. Is that alright with you, Mr Tall?"

"Just splendid!" He clapped his hands together and held one of them for Darren. "Shall we seal the deal with a good, firm handshake, Master …?"

"Shan. It's Darren Shan," Darren supplied. "Though I prefer to be called Ren."

"Master Shan," Mr Tall amended. "Shall we seal the deal, Master Shan?"

Darren eyed Mr Tall's hand. It was long and rectangular, with skeletal fingers. Certainly different. Perhaps difference was what Darren needed. Darren placed his hand around Mr Tall's and they shook on the deal they just made.

He did not know what events he had just started. Nor did he know what he getting into.

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_Chapter One End_

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**I know you guys read this. Trust me, I KNOW. So leave a review and you won't regret it. It would be AWESOME!**


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